Morning MoneyBeat Asia: U.S. Stocks Continue Slow Start

Market Snap: At the New York close: S&P 500 up 0.03% at 1838.13. DJIA down 0.1% at 16444.76. Nasdaq Comp down 0.2% at 4165.19. Treasury yields mixed; 10-year at 2.964%. Nymex crude oil down 0.7% at $91.66. Gold up 0.3% at $1,229.30/ounce.

How We Got Here: U.S. stocks continue to be weak in 2014, and even a little volatile, too. The Dow traded in a range between up 63 points and down 84 points, as traders are still trying to find the momentum they apparently lost at the end of 2013.

It’s curious. There hasn’t been any awful news so far, but there have been a lot of smaller negative stories. Holiday sales reports from J.C. Penney yesterday and Sears today spooked investors. After the bell, Alcoa kicked off earnings season with a weak report, and stocks are down in late trading.

This may all end tomorrow, or ramp up. Friday brings the monthly jobs report, and the buzz is that it’s going to be a good one. Given the way things are going, though, that might be a bad thing for equities.

The whole bad-news-is-good-news trade worked when the Fed was unambiguously not going to change up its stimulus efforts. Now that the taper is here, that’s a less sure bet. Are we seeing a good-news-is-bad-news trade developing? Right now the market still looks like it’s in a lull. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Coming Up: Investors in Asia will have an eagle eye out for China trade data Friday–which was expected by the market as early as Wednesday and now has spooked investors with an apparent delayed release. Economic data out of the country over the past week has been worse than expected in several cases and sent Chinese stocks tumbling. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal on average expect a 4.5% rise in China’s December exports versus 12.7% growth in November.

What You Missed Overnight

U.S. Stocks Continue Slow StartStocks ended little changed, as investors showed reluctance to buy stocks until the market reestablishes the momentum that carried benchmarks to record highs last year.

Big Banks Set for Best Year Since CrisisThe big six U.S. banks are set to post net income of about $73 billion in 2013, a 22% gain from 2012 that would be the best year for the industry since the financial crisis, according to analyst estimates.

Draghi Says ECB Will Act If Needed European Central Bank President Mario Draghi delivered an emphatic assurance that the ECB will keep its ultra-loose policies in place for the foreseeable future, and respond aggressively should inflation weaken to dangerously low levels.

Retailers Have a Blue Christmas Heavy discounting and slow traffic weighed on retailers’ December sales results, but Costco Wholesale was among the few that bucked the trend.

Alcoa Reports Steep LossAlcoa swung to a steep fourth-quarter loss as the aluminum maker recorded a $1.72 billion impairment charge tied to two acquisitions made over a decade ago.

From The Wall Street Journal Asia

Afghans to Free High-Risk PrisonersThe Afghan government on Thursday said it would release dozens of prisoners whom coalition forces and some Afghan officials want to keep behind bars because of fears these inmates would rejoin the insurgency once freed.

China Finds Ways to Tackle Soured LoansChina’s government is gearing up for a spike in nonperforming loans, endorsing a range of options to clean up banks and experimenting with ways for lenders to squeeze value from debts gone bad.

Thais Hand Over Cash to Keep Protest AliveThai protesters are tired of vote-buying and other forms of influence peddling in elections here. Now, many of them are handing over large amounts of cash to a firebrand provocateur who aims to do away with next month’s ballot entirely.

What to Watch for in Friday’s Jobs ReportFavorable readings from multiple indicators buoyed expectations for Friday’s jobs report, stirring hopes that the economy’s momentum at last is spreading to the labor market.